


A Lonely Encounter

by onereyofstarlight



Series: Fluffember Prompts 2019 [3]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22315648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onereyofstarlight/pseuds/onereyofstarlight
Summary: During some time out, Gordon encounters a whale. Lacking tags because the only genre I was going for here was "pure awe".
Series: Fluffember Prompts 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1606219
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	A Lonely Encounter

“Yeah, it’s going great Brains,” said Gordon, looking over the controls of Thunderbird Four. “These new engines are so smooth, you could perform surgery back here.”

“That’s w-w-wonderful Gordon,” said Brains’ little holoprojection overhead. “Only, p-p-please leave the surgery to the p-professionals.”

Gordon laughed as he leant back in his seat. “I guess I should start surfacing. Grandma and Kayo are getting back from their trip today and I want to be there.”

“RAD Gordon.”

Gordon started going through the motions of returning to the surface, when a quiet beep caught his attention. He opened up a channel to Tracy Island and Thunderbird Five.

“Hey guys?” he called.

“Gordon?” said John immediately popping up on his screen.

“What’s up?” said Virgil.

“I’ve got something coming up on sonar.”

Virgil swore. “I’ll get Scott,” he said, winking out of existence.

“I’m patching through data from the stationed hydrophones now,” said John.

“Yeah, thanks John,” said Gordon running his eyes over the readout on his screen. He blinked in surprise as the information updated. “Whatever it is, it’s moving straight for Tracy Island.”

“Do we need to be concerned?” This time it was Scott popping up on his reader.

“Hold your horses Scott, we’re still gathering data.”

“Can’t you use your radar?”

“Sonar,” said Gordon, frowning over the computer’s trigonometry. “And not according to the International Marine Mammal Sonar Protection Act of 2039 or, you know, my own conscience.” He straightened up with a sigh of relief. “It’s moving pretty slowly. I’m going to amplify the sound.”

“What good will that do?” demanded Scott.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the trained sonar operator, marine biologist, and hydrophonics expert in the room will be able to have a cracking guess as to what’s out there,” said Gordon, mild irritation colouring his voice. “I’m just following protocol letting you in on this, so be quiet.”

Gordon flipped the switch and the sound of the ocean filled the vessel. A mournful cry filled the tiny submarine.

“Is that?”

“A whale,” breathed Gordon. “Sure is, Virgil.”

They listened in silence for a moment, the sharp groans and chirps compelling them to listen to the animal.

“It’s a humpback whale,” said Gordon. “I’ve got to go out there.”

“Wait, what?” yelped his brothers.

“You’re ninety metres underwater,” said John.

“And male humpbacks haven’t been sighted in this region of the ocean in nearly twenty years,” said Gordon, pulling out his oxygen tanks. “I can see him outside and I’m not leaving without at least attempting to tag him and assess his health.”

Scott threw up his hands in exasperation.

“Grandma Tracy and Kayo are due back in two hours,” reminded Virgil. “You can’t be more than half an hour.”

“I’ll only be fifteen,” said Gordon. “I’m not prepared for a full dive and I won’t go off my line. John, reel me in if I haven’t checked back in half an hour from start time. I’ll be carrying air for two hours.”

“Got it,” said John.

Gordon opened the air lock and put on his mask. Setting his dive watch, he slowly let the water in.

“Thunderbird Four is go,” he said into his mask, and swam out.

The whale was resting, suspended in the blue water above Gordon. Gordon swam upwards to get above him, marvelling at the giant creature and yet mindful of his time limit.

The milky white of the whale’s underbelly abruptly transformed into deep charcoal and Gordon watched in awe as the whale lazily pulled himself upright at a diagonal. The vibrations of his song resounded deep in Gordon’s bones and he was struck by a sense of longing and loneliness. Humpback whales may be solitary by nature but during breeding season, when they returned to the warmer waters, that began to change. 

Gordon carefully ran his hands over the whale’s back. He always kept advanced tagging equipment of Brains’ own design in his submarine for exactly this purpose and it was with a practiced hand that he deployed the tag now, held in place by suction cups. He tested the retrieval lights and antenna were functional and checked the time. Ten minutes had passed. He longed to extend this encounter and float alongside the whale for another hour or more but he knew his brothers were anxiously waiting for his return. They were all trained to dive and although none of them completed the same level of specialist training as him, they knew the risks as well as Gordon. Reluctantly, his fingers caressing the whale one last time, he began to swim back to Thunderbird Four.

He had a bit of time to think as he hauled himself into the decompression chamber and sat waiting for the nitrogen to dissolve slowly out of his blood. He’d hit the button that signalled his return and he savoured this last moment of peace to commit the sensation of gentle power and tranquillity to memory. And as he entered the cockpit to a cacophony of voices, he just smiled as another whale with a young calf alongside her approached from the distance and let the trilling joy of whale song wash over him.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, the way to my heart is to make Gordon science adjacent (oceanography, marine ecology, coastal engineering, taxonomist, etc etc etc, you name it and I am THERE)
> 
> Anyway :D
> 
> Crosspost from Tumblr. Original posted on 9/11/2019. Fills Day 8 prompt: Encounter
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


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